Abbey’s Muskoka Grill

My Food Day will be celebrated with my boyfriend at his beautiful cottage in the Muskoka area. His family live on an organic farm in Ajax, Ontario, where I am constantly spoiled by the fresh produce, livestock and free-range poultry it produces. One of my favourite lazy Sunday activities is going to visit the baby chicks, collecting the fresh hen’s eggs, and feeding the cattle as they graze in the pasture.

This year’s menu will start with a red and yellow beet salad, topped with goat’s milk cheese and a honey Dijon dressing. The beets come from one of my farm stands in Durham, the cheese from Prince Edward County, and the honey from a family friend in Uxbridge.

As a main dish, we will grill up a couple Rib Eye Steaks from the Ajax farm and top it with a homemade Blue Cheese Butter. The steaks will be served with a fresh tomato and summer squash sauté, using some of the first offerings of my backyard garden. To use up the bounty of berries we picked at the Ajax farm, I’ll whip up a quick raspberry bread pudding and serve it with a scoop of homemade vanilla bean ice cream from our favourite Toronto ice cream shop, Eds.